STEP BY STEP

05.09.2013

STEP BY STEP

“There are many ways of showing people the world; this is my way of doing it.”

“I just cannot resist the urge to travel”, and the photography project “Step by Step”came about through this desire to see the world, during a trip to Budapest. I was walking through the city streets, looking at the writing on the tarmac, and I started taking pictures of my shoes, showing people the world in my own unusual and unique way: a photographic composition consisting of my trainers and the surface above or below my feet, captured through a fisheye or wide-angle lens.

The title symbolises the idea of movement, of travelling step by step, from one place to another, around the world.

To begin with, I took my project on tour around England and to Dublin, then I worked up to planning and undertaking something much bigger: a three-month trip around China, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand.

A series of photographs whose purpose was to immortalise the meeting of different cultures … and changing backgrounds, such as Chinese writing on tarmac, a monument, or the meeting of East and West represented by my shoes alongside a pair of geta (typical Japanese sandals). The fusion of contrasting cultures and places, captured in lots of different shots and through a unique perspective.

“Our shoes contain part of us and of our culture, and, through them, we have direct contact with the land on which we are standing. Our shoes are able to touch and feel this foreign surface and, indirectly, together they create this extraordinary visual union”

From the Great Wall to the rice terraces in China, from the crystal waters in Thailand to the shrines in Japan, this amazing journey across Asia lasted from May to August. I set off full of energy and desire to photograph as many things as possible, with the intention of both conveying a depth of feeling and showing a small part of the world through my pictures.

All of these images were created using natural light with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

I must thank my official sponsor, Dakine Europe, who believed in this project and followed me for the full three months of my travels.

I totally believe in this project and, with Step by Step, I intend to travel the whole world.